Visitors Airlifted from Bamboo Forest Trail

At 12:32 p.m. on Monday, fire crews were dispatched to a male and female in their 30’s reported to be stranded by high stream waters at the Bamboo Forest Trail in East Maui.

Paia firefighters were on scene at 1:07 p.m. and found the couple on the opposite side of the first stream crossing not far from the trailhead.

The department’s Air-1 helicopter arrived and airlifted the couple to a pasture near the trailhead on Hana Highway at around 1:40 p.m. The couple was not injured.

The couple, a 33-year-old male and a 30-year-old female visiting from Washington D.C., had made it across the stream on their trek in, but found the stream flowing too high to chance the crossing on their return.

A group of hikers just starting out on the trail came upon the stream crossing and also did not want to risk it. They called for help after realizing the D.C. couple were stuck on the opposite side.